A beautiful day in Spain

Enjoying a walk on the waterfront -- Port Vell

On the roof of one of Gaudi's whimsical houses

On the roof of another of Gaudi's houses

Part of the Barcelona skyline from the roof of Casa Batllo

La Catedral de Barcelona

On the roof of the cathedral--we've been on a lot of roofs today and have rediscovered our discomfort with super high places!

An old Spanish commercial sailing ship from the 17th century or so

Hi, people we love—

We’re having a blast together here, and I think we’ve made it over the jet lag: bonus!

Since we got to bed so late last night (well past midnight, once we got off skype with the kids), we decided we wouldn’t rise as early as planned, and performed a little on-the-fly schedule rearrangement today, resulting in some good stuff.

First two stops were crazy houses designed by that crazy Barcelonan architect Antonio Gaudi: La Pedrera and Casa Batllo.  Both were pretty, and pretty bizarre.  Then I led Nancy on a restaurant wild goose chase, during which we saw some really fascinating buildings and people.  At the end of the chase, we actually ate, which was good.  Though it was 4pm, which wasn’t so good, since we were hungry.  But that’s when Barcelonans eat lunch –so that was good.  Means we’re getting the whole Barcelona experience. 

We walked up Las Ramblas, which though highly touted struck us as just a busy walkway with vendors (as well as more really fascinating buildings and people), and then toured Barcelona’s magnificent cathedral.  After that, we traced the outline of the Roman walls that once enclosed the city that became Barcelona, and saw some that date back to the first century AD, then headed to a flamenco show—quite impressive!

We walked down the rest of Las Ramblas to Port Vell, Barcelona’s waterfront, and strolled there for a while, then took the metro to eat (probably arrived about 10pm—about right for Barcelona, and not even close to midnight, when most restaurants close) and then returned back to the hotel.  Interestingly, the metro was more packed at 11pm than it has been any other time we’ve ridden on it! 

I think Nancy’s enjoying a little time to get away—and to recharge.  I am so thankful to be spending this time with her, and to be able to take her on a trip after her fantastic performance during a crazy deployment year